REVIEW / FALL TV SEASON / Will 'Commander' help Hillary? Who cares? It's just a good show.

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Commander in Chief: Drama. 9 p.m. Tuesdays, ABC.

Sex, Love and Secrets: Drama. 9 p.m. Tuesdays, UPN.

Sometimes people forget that television shows are just television shows. One of the ridiculous notions swirling around ABC's new drama series, "Commander in Chief," starring Geena Davis as the first female president of the United States, is that if the country takes to the show and makes it a hit, the series will be a significant real-life boon for Hillary Clinton's rush to the White House in 2008.

That's cute and all, but the series has more immediate worries: how it will fare against Tuesday-night competitors "House" and "The Amazing Race," both big hits. If, in less than three weeks, we all find out that polls -- whoops, ratings -- indicate nobody wants Geena Davis in the White House, then poor Hillary is going to have to forge ahead on her own.

Now, back to reality.

"Commander In Chief" may be this season's best dark-horse drama. It's a whole lot better than the premise on paper, and though initially it takes a bit to warm to Davis -- she fills the screen with bright red lips and high cheekbones and striking hair and, well, a towering presence -- soon enough she appears to be an inspired choice, equal parts powerful leader, conflicted mother and concerned wife.

While comparisons to "The West Wing" are inevitable, the fact is that set alongside the glory days of that show, there simply is no comparison. Not based on one episode, surely. But it's not too early to say that given the steep creative decline of "The West Wing" (yes, it made a bit of a comeback, but not far enough), "Commander in Chief" is every bit the equal and probably the long-term superior show. A moot point, essentially, since they're on different nights.

But the political atmosphere in the pilot of "Commander in Chief" is charged with the same kind of machinations that drew drama lovers and political wonks to "The West Wing." Republican President Teddy Bridges has had a severe stroke and now his female, Independent Party vice president, Mackenzie Allen (Davis), is on the brink of taking over. Except that Bridges asks Allen to resign so that power-hungry Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland) can take over.

Against the better wishes of those around her, including her chief of staff husband, Rod Calloway (Kyle Secor), Mackenzie has drafted her resignation letter. Then the president dies. And as everyone gathers to discuss, Templeton mocks Mackenzie for even considering the job, saying she was picked by Bridges to add theater to the ticket and not much else. The real reason, as we see in a flashback, is that Bridges needs the female vote and Mackenzie, who spent four years in Congress before taking a job as the chancellor at the University of Richmond, has a 40 percent approval rating.

"If my raw need for power is what opens the door for a woman, so what?" he says in the flashback.

We are led to believe that despite their differences, Bridges and Mac, as she's called, got along fine outside of politics. On his deathbed, he tells here why he wants Templeton to succeed him: "You and I, Mac -- we just see a different America. Templeton's an SOB and a liar and cheats at poker, but he shares my vision, my will."

Sutherland is perhaps too obviously a snake, and as Templeton he makes a few sexist comments on that fateful decision-making night -- which none too surprisingly make Mackenzie change her mind.

And we're off.

Written and directed by Rod Lurie (who also wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated film, "The Contender, " about a woman chosen to succeed the vice president, who died in office), it's clear we're on Aaron Sorkin ground here. Sorkin created "The West Wing" after writing "The American President" for the big screen. Sorkin and Lurie both found their material worthy of further investigation on television and, at least for Sorkin, it turned into a gold mine. Before NBC dumped him, Sorkin turned "The West Wing" into one of television's premiere dramas. It has limped lamely into the sunset since his departure.

Lurie appears to be interested not just in the kind of political minutia that fueled "The West Wing," but also in the sociological aspects of being female and president. In that sense, he's done an excellent job setting the scene. As Calloway, Secor strikes just the right note of deferential husband and hungry political insider. When Mackenzie decides to keep the old chief of staff (who disdained her for not resigning), it means Calloway's role is diminished and now he's the first husband. It's tough to swallow. He's there in her moments of doubt, when she says "I was never on the inside. I wasn't Gore. I wasn't Cheney." But as soon as she becomes madame president, she makes the hard call.

Mac has teenage twins, Horace (Matt Lanter) and Rebecca (Caitlin Wachs), and 6-year-old Amy (Jasmine Anthony). Rebecca looks to be a handful. She liked Bridges' politics and thinks her mom should have resigned. Oh those teenage girl versus Mom years. Never easy.

It's interesting what a second viewing will do for you. While "Commander in Chief" had a modicum of buzz among critics, the fact is no drama among the fall previews stood out. Initially high on "Criminal Minds," I've distanced myself from it now. I was initially mixed about "Commander in Chief" -- mostly because of Davis -- but it's clear now there's a great deal more substance here and more material for a pro like Lurie to mine. And a second viewing of the pilot warmed up Davis considerably.

What makes "Commander in Chief" work is its potential, just as "The West Wing" rose up and surprised everyone. In one scene here, Bridges' widow surprisingly throws her support to Mackenzie, with a you-go-girl flourish: "Mac, you're the first female president. If Moses had been a woman leading the Jews in the desert, she'd have stopped and asked for directions. They'd have been in Israel in a week."

Who knows what "Commander in Chief" will mean to Hillary Clinton, but its quality certainly makes Tuesday nights a bigger quandary for viewers.

That won't be an issue for tonight's other fall season premiere, "Sex, Love and Secrets" on UPN.

It's awful. Vote no.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.